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Uniquely Normal
Uniquely Normal is a web series created by Nicholas Merchant. The show is very loosly based on'' Idiot Says NO!'' which was a show created by Anthony Devera at Vietnam Camera and distributed by CHEAVERA Ltd. Idiot Says NO! ''was deleted from Youtube and no known copies of it exist anymore. Production Production of Uniquely Normal began in December 2012. It was intended to be a spin-off of Idiot Says No!, but only one reference is made to Idiot Says No! (in the pilot episode of Uniquely Normal). The first episode of ''Uniquely Normal ''was released on New Years Day of 2013 to slightly positive reviews. Pre-6th Grade Idiot Says No! Uniquely Normal was based off Idiot Says No! It started production in June 2012 with Anthony Devera as the showrunner and director. It was created by Vietnam Camera and distributed by CHEAVERA Ltd. The main character was Tom Idiot. The show had very little in common with ''Uniquely Normal. All the cast and character differed except for Charles Wong. The show also lacked the mockumentary style. A whole bunch of different characters were proposed, but due to Anthony Devera's move the characters were deleted. Tam and Freddy were to appear in the last episode of the show, but they couldn't do it because their trip to Chicago was canceled. There was no closing episode of the show due to this. The entire show has been lost. 6th Grade Season One Season 1 of Uniquely Normal began on January 1st, 2013. The Season was produced at N25 Studios and distributed by N25 Distribution. Nicholas Merchant was showrunner and director. It was intended to be a spin-off of Idiot Says No!, but only one reference is made to Idiot Says No! (in the pilot episode of Uniquely Normal). A new episode was released every Saturday. The Season ended with 9 episodes on February 23rd, 2013. During the season, all characters from Idiot Says NO! ''left. 7th Grade Season Two A campaign was released on February 9th, 2013 to see what content N25 Studios should make next. Though the results showed that people wanted a new show, it was unofficially announced that there would be a second season on February 14th, 2013. It was officially announced on February 27th, 2013 and a trailer was released. The second season was produced at W3b21 Studios. N25 Studios (the studio that created Season One) was shutdown. The show was still distributed by N25 Distribution. Season Two premiered on April 6th, 2013 on schedule. It has noticeably higher reviews than Season 1. Season Three Season Three was planned to be made in September to November of 2013. The original outline of Season Three was sent out to writers and actors on April 13th, 2013. In July, the show was canceled in favor of a new web series titled Broke, Smart, and Famous. But in September 2013, BSF was put on a hiatus, and subsequently shelved. In early October, Uniquely Normal was renewed, and a new summary was written, unrelated to the original. A call to writers was released in November, with Isiah B and Micheal Burford being hired as script editors. A teaser trailer was released on December 22nd, 2013 for a premiere on February 5th, 2014. All principle actors, except Katya Edwards, had signed on. She later signed on as well. The first trailer was released on January 5th, 2014. On February 1st, the premiere date was delayed to February 15th due to production delays. Production for episodes 1-3 took place between December 2013 to March 2014, with material for episodes 3-6 also filmed at that time. Due to scheduling conflicts, the remaining episodes were delayed so that Marc Mulligan could appear in his two episode guest appearance. Episodes 4 and 5 finished in May, with several scenes cut to accommodate Mulligan and Alec Wyers. Wyers, who also had remaining scenes to film in episode 6, couldn't appear, so the episode was split into two parts, the first one aired in July 2014, while the second part was intended to be shot in September and premeire ahead of the canceled season 4. This episode was eventually expanded to become the Uniquely Normal movie and serves as a series finale. Both Sam DuBose and Lukas Soneome left this season, with Soneome refusing to complete his scenes. Soneome's last shoot was in December of 2013, and still had much of the second half of the season to film. Due to this, pick ups for the episode 6 were shot in early July, to explain the events from Soneome's remaining scenes, which had been cut (though, initially, it was planned to insert him using archive footage, voice actors, and body doubles). Sam DuBose had been reluctant to shoot the season, and a number of his scenes were cut or replaced with other actors. New Beginnings When Season 3's finale was unable to be completed, the remaining scenes were cut, leaving a cliffhanger. This was originally intended to be addressed in a special episode, airing with season 4, but produced separately. This episode, titled "New Beginnings", was originally supposed to air in September, but was delayed greatly, wrapping in January. At that point, it had ballooned up to 25 minutes (from the original 7 minutes). Showrunner Nicholas Merchant decided to release it separately as a Uniquely Normal movie, due to the fact that its plot was unrelated to season 4, and to buy time to film season 4, which had been greatly delayed. Since the film was not technically part of production of either season 3 or the now canceled season 4, it was unclear if Sam DuBose and Lukas Soneome, who both left the show during season 3, would return in the shoot for the second part of episode 6, which was delayed as Alec Wyers couldn't shoot his scenes on time. After negotiations, DuBose agreed to appear in the second part of episode 6, which was revised to become the Uniquely Normal movie, in order to properly say goodbye to his character. Soneome, who had refused to complete any scenes during production of season 3 and left production over a year before the premiere of the film, was not contacted to appear, but later expressed interest in returning. Since the film had been written without his character in mind, there was little room for Soneome to return. A cameo was filmed with him, but it was cut during editing. 8th Grade It was initially planned for the show to cover all of middle school, and production of season 4 had begun alongside production of the Uniquely Normal film. However, as cast members lost interest, and since New Beginnings did a good job of wrapping up character arcs and already felt like a goodbye, due to it intentionally being the final episode of Sam DuBose, it retroactively is considered the show's finale, and season 4 was canceled a few months after its release. The fourth season was almost entirely written, and production of the pilot was mostly completed, as well as various scenes from later episodes. There are no current plans for this footage to be released. However, 2 minisodes, intended to be released between the film and season 4, were published. These serve as the final appearances of Uniquely Normal characters, as they were released after the airing of New Beginnings, but prior to the official cancelation of season 4. A third minisode was also completed, but it was never edited or released. Information Number of Episodes: 22 (82 minutes) Number of Seasons: 3 Showrunner: Nicholas Merchant Director: Nicholas Merchant (co-director Sam DuBose for season two finale) Distributer: N25 (Seasons 1-3), Comedy Cubed (film Studio: N25 Studios (Seasons 1 and 3), W3b21 Studios (Season 2), Comedy Cubed (film) Cast Nicholas Merchant as Arthur Burnt (Starring: 21, Cameo (Archive Footage): 1) Anthony Devera as Charles Wong (Starring: 12) Sam DuBose as Leroy (Starring: 9, Cameo: 1, Guest: 2) Katya Edwards as Sarah (Starring: 7, Recurring: 2) Lukas Soneome as Nate Martin (Starring: 9, Cameo: 2) Rhys Lewis as Jake (Starring: 4) Alec Wyers as Benny (Recurring: 3) From Idiot Says No! Anthony Devera as Charles Wong Miles Lubin as Tom Idiot Freddy Vu as Steve Tam Vu as Robert Characters Reception The original reception to the show was slightly positive. Unlike ''eWeir (a show created at Nicdem25 Studios and distributed by Nicdem25 which is now known as N25 Distribution), Uniquely Normal ''was not met with extremely positive reviews and not much hype. ''Uniquely Normal ''also fell below expectations in views, which were less than a quarter those of ''eWeir. Due to this, N25 Distribution did not order a second season at first. A new character was introduced near the end of Season 1 which skyrocketed views (though still not even remotely close to those of ''eWeir). ''This character was Leroy, played by Sam DuBose. Season 2 Season 2's premiere was release on the 6th of April. It is currently the highest rated show with 300 views. It has also the best reviews, with over 10 likes. Cast Departures Over the course of its run, numerous cast members have left Uniquely Normal. Anthony Devera Anthony Devera, who plays Charles Wong, was the only cast member to appear in both Uniquely Normal, and Idiot Says No! Showrunner Nicholas Merchant wanted to distance U.N. from I.S.N. more, and wanted new cast members on the show, one of which refused to appear with Devera. Due to this, Devera was written of the show at the end of the first season. Merchant has said he greatly regrets this, as Charles was the best character, and Arthur, who served as a straight man to Charles, lost purpose and has been the criticism of subsequent seasons. Charles (and Devera) returned as a regular starring cast member in season 3, though he remained isolated from the rest of the cast, except for Arthur, and one scene with Nate. Sam DuBose Sam DuBose wasn't excited to return to Uniquely Normal during season 3, and announced he would be leaving at the end of the season slightly before the season premiere. During the season, there were many scheduling conflicts and DuBose demanded a smaller number of scenes. To accommodate this, many of his scenes were cut. When the season finale was split into two episodes, with the second being filmed with production of the next season (which DuBose would not be in) it became unclear if DuBose will appear in new footage (as one shot was shot when the episode was still planned to be one part) in the second half, like planned. DuBose returned to film the second half in early September to December. Lukas Soneome Lukas Soneome and showrunner Nicholas Merchant had a falling out a little before the premiere of season 3, and Merchant has claimed Soneome could be difficult to work with at times. Lukas refused to shoot anymore scenes, even though he still had the majority of his scenes to film for the second half of the season. His remaining scenes were rewritten or cut. As Soneome's last shoot was a month before the season premiere, some of the footage he shot was deemed unusable after the season finale was split into two parts, and partially rewritten. Potential Spin-Offs Over the course of Uniquely Normal, a few spin-offs have been proposed. Canceled Leroy Spin-off During production of Uniquely Normal Season 2, a spin-off show was being discussed. It would focus on Leroy and his work as an agent. It was planned to follow Season 3 and 4 of Uniquely Normal and would be shown in 2014. It would have a much higher budget than Uniquely Normal. In July 2013, Uniquely Normal showrunner Nicholas Merchant officially canceled the project. Canceled Benny Spin-off UN Showrunner Nicholas Merchant has expressed interest in created a show revolving around Benny. Merchant says that "Benny, who was originally going to be a minor character, became one of the most beloved characters on the show. I definitely want to do more with the character." In July 2014, when Merchant decided N25 would focus more on new content instead of sequels, plans for a Benny spin-off were shelved. The Nerd Squad After Season 4 of Uniquely Normal was canceled in favor of making New Beginnings into a movie, a show featuring Benny and Jake was planned. Both characters were introduced in the final season, and Jake and Benny were planned to have a much larger role in Season 4. Charles, Nate would Arthur would also return. Although the series was green-lit for the 2015-2016 season, it was canceled when Rhys Lewis, who portrays Jake, left Comedy Cubed.